MTG Salvation

Not sure if I like it over Izzet Charm or Electrolyze. If I did add it my Izzet section would end up as stacked in 4 drops as Gruul but I am intrigued by this.

Hey, pst, it's called Expulsion.

The card is not bad, but Izzet is soooo stacked now. And I am pretty sure that this isn't top 5 material.

I lot worse than venser as it lack all much of the trickiness. It is probably on a similar bower level to Jilt which is fine but been outclassed. With two allstar walkers in the guild it is hard to justify a 4 mana spell that isn't crazy.

Jilt is the easy comp. Getting to soft-counter spells, burn planeswalkers, and exile stuff like Voice of Resurgence are all major upgrades that more than make up for lost flexibility... but I agree with dschumm that we're looking at a very different Izzet section than a few years ago. This is competing not with the walkers but with the scrum of good stuff below it... Fire/Ice, Dack's Duplicate, Prophetic Bolt, Izzet Charm, Electrolyze, Keranos, God of Storms, and Steam Augury.

I think it's a possible test simply due to how adding soft countermagic changes the entire dynamic of the card, but it has a lot of obstacles to overcome.

I think this card is pretty good actually, it can do a lot of different things for 4 mana and is kind of like a command. But is it better than Dack Fayden/Ral Zarek/Izzet Charm/FireIce/Electrolyze/Prophetic Bolt/Dack's Duplicate/Steam Augury/Jilt? Probably/definitely some number of them, but not enough for me to include it.

I like this card a lot. Not better than the two walkers, but I'll probably try it out over Izzet Charm. It's a marvelous Swiss army knife, between bouncing spells, exiling creatures, and being colorless. Being able to bounce Sword carriers because of devoid will be a nasty surprise. Four mana is a lot, but there's so much utility here that I'll have to give it a shot.

Here are my current Izzet cards (Multiplayer EDH Cube):

• Marchesa's Smuggler
  
• Nin, the Pain Artist
  
• Dack Fayden
  
• Dack's Duplicate
  
• Ral Zarek
  
• Steam Augury
  
• Izzet Chronarch
  
• Keranos, God of Storms
  
• Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
  
• Etherium-Horn Sorcerer

This thing will absolutely make it in there possibly bumping:

• Marchesa's Smuggler
  
• Steam Augury
  
• Izzet Chronarch
  
• Etherium-Horn Sorcerer

In my opinion, this card seems really sweet in most powered cube that run more than 3 gold cards per guild. Yes, the Izzet section is super tight and Dack Fayden & Ral Zarek are far away from being kick out. Izzet Charm is also a great toolkit that push multiple archetypes. But maybe Brutal Explosion may take position at the 4th or 5th spot. Maybe those who play Fire // Ice, Electrolyze or Prophetic Bolt should consider this new devoid spell as a possibility. Some cube managers also play Dack's Duplicate and like it pretty much because it plays a very different role in there cube and I respect that. But in a mid-large cube that is looking at a fun way to replace either FI, Electrolyze or PB, this card could fit well. I think it's 540 and more material.

Brutal Explosion is great for 3 reasons. First, it offers versatily at instant speed. It can bounce, counterspell and remove small creatures, stuff that are being battletrick or even planeswalkers from the game. Second, it gets around stuff that can't be counterspell like Thrun or Abrupt Decay. And third, it gets around protection because of devoid keyword. For all those reasons, It might deserve testing at some point for those who have enough space in their guild section. Only downside I see, it doesn't it players and cost could seems a bit high for the effect.

I dont think this is better than the cheaper spells like Izzet Charm,Fire/Ice or Electrolyze. Maybe its better than Prophetic Bolt, but I havent run that in a year at least. If it had a shock attached I would rate it higher, its possible there will be times where the second mode does nothing. Not sure I want that in a 4 mana spell.

Seems fine, conditionally useful, and I wouldn't fault anyone for running it, but I prefer the walkers and the charm for my little section (plus the checkland which will unquestionably be swapped for a manland sometime in the coming months).

Like the card a lot

I've toyed with running pillar of flame every now and then, think these effects are getting better and better.
Hangerback walker, strangelroot geist, multiple black recursive creatures, hallowed spiritkeeper , voice of resurgence, kitchen finks and wouldn't be surprised if that list grows a couple more soon.

Permanant bounce in cube is sweet but 4 is way too much to pay for it, hitting spells helps.. Allowing you to tempo if needed or push a permanant through counter magic.. My only concern is how often the pillar of flame effect will be dead and you pay 4 mana for less than a 1 for 1.

For me the top 3 in izzet are locked for every cube as #1 Dack Fayden, #2 Ral Zarek , #3 Dack's duplicate.
In smaller powered cubes I'd say #4 izzet charm #5 Electrolyze
But I think In larger unpowered cubes I might like this card as much as the other top izzet instants...

I like this card, but I'm not sure that I like it more than anything I'm currently running. It's comparable to Izzet Charm, but being priced at two vs four might keep the Charm in the lead. It's probably better than Izzet Signet, but I feel like I need the Signet in my list more than I need this card.

Quote from Ennex »

I like this card more than Dack's Duplicate, Steam Augury or Prophetic Bolt. Izzet is still stacked though. If I ever get tired of Keranos, God of Storms, I'll probably switch for some Expulsion.

Dack's Duplicate is sick. Probably the #3 card in Izzet. I like it far better than Keranos and far better than this card as well.

I think it is just too fairly/conservatively costed. It is probably fine for standard, but in higher powered formats (which includes cube), it will feel very underwhelming. I don't think I am getting enough bang for my buck here.

Since it doesn't damage players, I wish it could at least deal 3 damage. And/or bounce any non-land permanent instead of just a creature. Or cost 1UR, but that is probably asking too much. As printed, I am definitely not going to run it.

Might be good enough for cubes that deliberately keep their power level low. Or run lots of multicolor cards. It is a flexible spell with one unusual effect, after all.

This looks like a slightly better Silumgar's Command. Cheaper to cast and condensed into two always-relevant modes. Problem being that Izzet is chock-full of "burn + bonus" cards, from Electrolyze and Prophetic Bolt to Fire // Ice and Izzet Charm.

Not going to the face is a pretty severe drawback for me. One of the tangible benefits of burn is reach on top of creature removal, so the card's other benefits really have to pull their weight if I can't have both, and doubly so on a guild card. The Boomerang / Remand split option might do it, but I'm not convinced.

I am torn between this or Keranos as my 7th Izzet card. I feel like Keranos is more unique and I will likely keep him in.

Quote from PyreDream »

The Boomerang / Remand split option might do it, but I'm not convinced.

I wish it was a Boomerang/Remand option. It is just Unsummon though. And it isn't really Remand, either, because unlike that spell, it comes with card disadvantage here.

Oh man, it's only spell or creature, not Spell or Permanent. Oh well, it was pretty close anyways.

Yeah, the major downside to this over something like venser or remand is that you HAVE to kill a creature with the shock for it to not be card disadvantage. That being said, this is still going right in the izzet section of my cube, probably over winterflame.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Oh man, it's only spell or creature, not Spell or Permanent. Oh well, it was pretty close anyways.

Weird, I misread it the same way :/

Downgrading my opinion

Yeah missing permanent is sad. Still like the card though. But my Izzet guild section isn't going to change for it at all. I think Fire // Ice is just way better. And I've absolutly no doubt about both planeswalkers and the charm.